| Reference number | VF/13 |
| Alternative reference number | VF13 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Portrait of John Hall Gladstone by Sir Leslie Ward |
| Artist | Ward, Leslie ['Spy'] |
| Vincent Brooks, Day & Son |
| Date | 14 November 1891 |
| Description | Vanity Fair cartoon titled 'Chemistry & Optics' featuring John Hall Gladstone, leaning against a chair. Full length, right profile. Number 523 of the 'Men of the Day' series. |
| InscriptionContent | Recto inscription: 'VANITY FAIR Novr. 14 1891/ Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith/ “Chemistry & Optics”’ |
| Caption | Men of the Day. No. DXXIII
Professor John Hall Gladstone, PhD., F.R.S.
Descended from those Gladstanes or Gladstones who figure so well in old Scottish Border tales, he was born four-and-sixty years ago in London; which has ever since been his home. Having learned what he might at home, he studied chemistry under Professor Graham at University College, and under Professor Liebig at Giessen; and so became qualified to lecture "stinksmen" at St. Thomas's Hospital. He developed so much energy as a chemist that they elected him a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of six-and-twenty; and he has since seved on the Royal Commission on Lighthouses, Buoys, and Beacons; and on the Gun Cotton Committee appointed by the War Office in 1864. He has also professed Chemistry at the Royal Institution, and presided over the Physical Society, over the Chemical Society, and over other such bodies. He joined the School Board as member for Chelsea nearly twenty years ago; and while he has satisfied those whom he represents on that not immaculate Board so well that they have not yet dispensed with his services, he has so favourably impressed his colleagues that they have chosen him to their Vice-Chairman, and have bidden him to preside over several Committees, some of which he has obtained for himself. He has investigated school systems in three quarters of the globe; he believes in technical and manual instruction; he is an economist; and he has devoted so much very valuable time to the education of the London ragamuffin that, if there be any appreciation of worth in the electors' minds, he cannot fail to figure among the Members of the Chelsea Division so long as he may be found willing to accept the thankless honour of re-election.
He is a Man of Science who, though he has figured at many meetings of the British Association, has not denied God; for he is as full of philanthropy as he is anxious to teach others, and more devoted to real Religion than he is to alleged Science, He has written a multitude of books, pamphlets, and lectures; he has done much to show that the Bible and Natural Science are not in conflict; he has for a quarter of a century headed a corps of Christian Volunteers invented by himself; and he has for nearly twice as many years searched into the points of contact between chemistry and optics. Yet he has found time to dabble in philology (as a would-be spelling reformer and otherwise) and in archaeology; and he has a museum full of Egyptian and other antiquities. His chief resorts in London are the Athenaeum and the Savile Club; and he is as full of varied information as he is empty of affection.
He is a modest, retiring, undogmatic man, and an unsectarian Christian in whom is no guile.
Jehu Junior |
| Format | Lithograph |
| Physical description | Coloured lithograph on paper |
| Dimensions | 380mm x 263mm |
| Notes | Text is accompanying article from "Vanity Fair" (by Jehu Junior) |
| Access status | Open |
| Copyright | The Royal Society |
| Provenance | Purchased by the Royal Society from Patrick Pollak Antiquarian & Rare Books, September 1999 |
| Related material | Colour transparency, Box N101 |
| Related records in the catalogue | IM/001662 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | Name | Dates |
| NA7685 | Gladstone; John Hall (1827 - 1902); physical chemist | 1827 - 1902 |